# Change variable alternatingly
**URL:** https://discourse.processing.org/t/change-variable-alternatingly/32230
**Category:** Coding Questions
**Created:** [September 13, 2021, 2:17pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/change-variable-alternatingly/32230 "2021-09-13T14:17:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MoonAlien822](https://discourse.processing.org/u/MoonAlien822)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2021, 2:17pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/change-variable-alternatingly/32230/1 "2021-09-13T14:17:29Z")
how to change i to 2 every couple of seconds/frames and then back
```auto
direction[1]= loadImage("left.png");
direction[2]= loadImage("right.png");
i;
void setup(){
fullScreen();
}
void draw(){
image(direction[i], imagex, height-(height/4), 50, 80);
}
```
---
### Author:  [@micuat](https://discourse.processing.org/u/micuat)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2021, 4:59pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/change-variable-alternatingly/32230/2 "2021-09-13T16:59:47Z")
I think you already have a good starting point. The easier way is to use `frameCount`. You can use modulus to “cycle” the frame count, for example `frameCount % 60` would return 0 to 59, and then repeats from 0. According to that value, change `i` from 1 to 2… I guess that’s enough to make it happen 🙂
---
### Author:  [@MoonAlien822](https://discourse.processing.org/u/MoonAlien822)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2021, 5:15pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/change-variable-alternatingly/32230/3 "2021-09-13T17:15:36Z")
this does not work. did i do something wrong?
```auto
PImage[] direction= new PImage[3];
int i=1;
void setup(){
fullScreen();
direction[1]= loadImage("left1.png");
direction[2]= loadImage("right.png");
}
void draw(){
if(frameCount % 60==29){
i=2;}
if(frameCount % 60==0){
i=1;}
image(direction[i], imagex, height-(height/4), 50, 80);
}
```
---
### Author:  [@rapatski](https://discourse.processing.org/u/rapatski)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2021, 8:57am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/change-variable-alternatingly/32230/4 "2021-09-14T08:57:59Z")
Hi @MoonAlien822
That should totally work… when I test it here it works fine. One little tweak, perhaps you’re doing it for a reason, but why make the direction array of size 3?
```auto
PImage[] directionImages = new PImage[2];
int directionIndex = 0;
void setup() {
size(600, 600);
directionImages[0]= loadImage("left1.png");
directionImages[1]= loadImage("right.png");
}
void draw() {
if(frameCount%60 == 0) {
directionIndex = 0;
}
if(frameCount%60 == 29) {
directionIndex = 1;
}
image(directionImages[directionIndex], 0, 0, width, height);
}
```
---
### Author:  [@MoonAlien822](https://discourse.processing.org/u/MoonAlien822)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2021, 5:15pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/change-variable-alternatingly/32230/5 "2021-09-14T17:15:28Z")
> [@rapatski](#):
>
> ```auto
> PImage[] directionImages = new PImage[2];
> int directionIndex = 0;
>
> void setup() {
> size(600, 600);
> directionImages[0]= loadImage("left1.png");
> directionImages[1]= loadImage("right.png");
> }
> void draw() {
>
> if(frameCount%60 == 0) {
> directionIndex = 0;
> }
> if(frameCount%60 == 29) {
> directionIndex = 1;
> }
>
> image(directionImages[directionIndex], 0, 0, width, height);
> }
>
> ```
for my head its easier to work with numbers higher than 0 when counting. arrays start at 0, so while im only using 1 and 2, there are still three
---
### Author:  [@rapatski](https://discourse.processing.org/u/rapatski)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2021, 8:04pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/change-variable-alternatingly/32230/6 "2021-09-14T20:04:57Z")
Haha okay… you do you! But did you get it to work??
---
### Author:  [@MoonAlien822](https://discourse.processing.org/u/MoonAlien822)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2021, 8:05pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/change-variable-alternatingly/32230/7 "2021-09-14T20:05:58Z")
yes i did! It works in my full code too, thank you so much
---
### Author:  [@MoonAlien822](https://discourse.processing.org/u/MoonAlien822)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2021, 9:01am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/change-variable-alternatingly/32230/8 "2021-10-02T09:01:11Z")
i would like to make the time way longer, how do i know what to set it to?
---
### Author:  [@rapatski](https://discourse.processing.org/u/rapatski)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2021, 9:30am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/change-variable-alternatingly/32230/9 "2021-10-02T09:30:57Z")
It’s the “60” in `frameCount%60`. The frame count increases at the frame rate the sketch is set to, which by default is 60. The % operator gives you “the remains” of dividing the number by 60, which means that frameCount%60 will count from 0 to 59 every second. If you set it to a larger amount (120 would be two seconds), you’d increase the interval.